First grade teacher remembers Firefighter Timothy Klein as "great, happy kid"
NEW YORK -- We're learning more about the life of Firefighter Timothy Klein, who died Sunday after being injured in a house fire in Canarsie, Brooklyn.
CBS2's Elijah Westbrook spoke with one of his former teachers about the impact he leaves behind.
"He was a bundle of energy," Suellen Foti told Westbrook.
Foti was Klein's first grade teacher at Saint Francis de Sales Academy in Belle Harbor, Queens. She gave us insight into the man behind the uniform -- the boy before the heroic firefighter many remember him as.
"He was just a great, happy kid, who did very well in school. He wanted to please everybody, and he was just a joy to have," she said.
Klein's life tragically came to an end Sunday evening after responding to a house fire on Avenue N off East 108th Street. Official said he was trapped under a ceiling collapse.
Foti said she was heartbroken hearing about the news of his death, but she wants everyone to remember him as the kind soul that she knew him to be.
"I remember that we used to have the firemen come in, and they did a whole fire safety and let them try on the uniforms and everything. And he, along with other students, were so excited, and they so wanted to be a fireman," she said.
She said it was on that day she knew he found a spark to be a firefighter. Flash forward more than 20 years later, Klein served in the FDNY for six years, mostly at Ladder 170 in Canarsie.
"Timmy was an officer's dream," said FDNY Capt. Mark Schweighardt.
"It's quite a loss inside and outside of the firehouse. I think if you look at all the faces behind me, you can tell what a major loss Timmy is to Canarsie's bravest," Klein's cousin, Keith, told CBS2.
As Foti continues to teach at Saint Francis, she says she's honored to have the privilege to teach who she called an incredible man.
"I watched him grow up throughout the eight years he was here at Saint Francis," she said. "He was a very good boy and he'll be sorely missed."
Klein's cousin said he leaves behind his parents, three younger sisters and girlfriend. He's now the second FDNY firefighter to die in the line of duty this year.
